"Why Judgment", November 26, 2017

Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24 Matthew 25: 31-46 Reading this passage from Matthew, someone in a Bible Study once declared: “I love this passage because it scares all the would-be-goats with the punishment to come.” Which surprised me because I had never before thought about the punishment. In fact in all four of the Gospels, this is the only place where the Greek word for “judgment” is used. The only other reference in ALL the New Testament is in the First Letter of John 4:18 which says that “Love casts out fear, because fear has to do with judgment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love because God first loved us.” The reward of God’s love always seemed enough motivation. All around the world this is Christ the King Sunday, established as such in the 1800s, when Princes and Presidents and Dictators were emphasizing their authority and power on the world stage. I think there is a wonderful story about Bishop Hugh Latimer, who was a very outspoken Bishop of London. One morning, seeing King Henry VIII seated in the Sanctuary, Bishop Latimer paused to pray before preaching. Rather than muttering in silence, in a stage whisper the Bishop prayed: “Latimer, be careful what you say this day, King Henry is here.” Following which, he prayed “and all should be careful, for so also The King of Kings is here.” Within the Church, Investigation for Church Discipline ONLY begins because someone is so violated that they bring Allegations which they make into formal Charges against their leader for an abuse of trust that can be proven. The Investigations are done with public knowledge that there is an investigation, but confidentiality about who and why, in the event the matter were not true. Decades ago, in another Presbytery, we had Seven Investigations taking place simultaneously. We reached a time, where every person looked round the Table asking Jesus, with the Disciples, “Is it I Lord, Is it I?” The linkage between Justice and Caring have been lost in our contemporary world. Due to all the litigation, “Justice” has become what the courts say Justice is, and doing harm or doing wrong only seems to matter when you get caught, and then, only if those accusing are willing to stand up to scrutiny and abuse. In the Church we seem to have cornered the market on “Caring”, we have Mission trips and Food Drives, Clothing Collections, Blanket Offerings, Thanksgiving Offerings, Christmas Offerings, One Great Hour Sharing … But Ezekiel holds Justice and Caring in tension together, both explicitly and implicitly. That seems an odd connection. Our regular linkage is Justice and Injustice, or Justice and Righteousness, Caring and Generosity, Caring and Soothing. But Ezekiel proclaims that God has union between Justice and Caring. Justice and Caring are united because the metaphor of the Shepherd is a political image. To be a king is to be surrounded with the Power of a God. To be a King is to shepherd the Nation. To be a King is to be concerned with the needs of the world. Hammurabi’s Law Code begins by explaining that those in Power are to use that power to promote the Welfare of the People, to cause Justice to prevail throughout the land, to destroy the wicked and evil in order that the strong not oppress the weak. Justice (the Power of Caring) is like a thumb on the scale, equalizing wealth, authority, dominance, strength, prestige, influence, race, education not out of a softness, or concern for the weak, but because Creation requires this balance. Ezekiel describes “Should not Shepherds Feed the Sheep? You eat the fat, clothe yourselves with the wool, slaughter the fatlings.” This exploitation not only depletes the economy of the herd, it scatters and makes vulnerable the flock among other nations. We have become so accustomed to Christ being one of us, Our Savior who suffered for us and died for us, we miss the point of Ezekiel, declaring that God has not only left the building, God left Heaven, Creator of the Entire Cosmos walked out to enter into Creation, searching for the lost, Jesus’ Parable of leaving the 99 to search for the 1 is simply Jesus quoting Ezekiel describing the Love of God. Justice is more than a Works-Righteousness of the Church having great Caring. After all the others, Matthew does not name this passage as a Parable, he does not introduce it as a Parable, or offer a moral. Instead, this seems to be the final answer to the question of the disciples exiting the Temple with Jesus, or as others followed him up the Mountain, to which Jesus declared “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, before him will be gathered all the nations, and the Son of Man will separate them. And the King will say, Come O Blessed of my father.” Throughout the Scriptures, the Greatest Blessing is to be welcomed into the love and body of God. The greatest Punishment was not inflicted by someone else, but is what we do to ourselves by isolating and separating ourselves in darkness. The problem here is selfishness. Not a selfishness as the world has known, no a far more subtle and seductive selfishness. I want to give gifts to my friends to make them happy. I do everything in my power to hide my sins from my family, not because I have sinned, but because I do want them to think less of me. I want to cheer a winning team. The ENDS justify the MEANS. I want to have a party for my friends and it does not register that this is all a façade, covering up, that to do so requires we violate others, we steal and lie, and protect ourselves. We commit to community-service projects because these make us look good, and our friends admire our doing for the less fortunate. We only see in a mirror dimly, where the world is a reflection of our desires, rather than witnessing what is. That is not true Caring, and there is no Justice. My agony with the Gospel this day, is knowing there is no joy is judgment. What the Son of Man yearns for is to have everyone be at the right-hand. When judgment comes, when some are separated to the left as Goats, there is heartache from the Judge, that these were unable to see beyond themselves. There is a sense of failure for the Judge, the Son of Man, that these chose to care for themselves, and the world of their creation, the Goats were threatened by sharing, being open to the glory of God.